Thirteen Times Zero
by becoafamu
Summary: Megaman X. After a mishap on a mission, Roxas is tossed into a world that is really not looking so hot. Axel leaves to find him, and Zero is left wondering if these strange numbered reploids may have anything to do with his own past. LOTS OF ROBOTS!
1. Chapter 1

SELF-INDULGENT AUTHOR NOTES: Hello, all! I love Megaman X more than anything in the world. Unfortunately, I could not think up any plots for Megaman X. So, I give you a crossover! Because I love Kingdom Hearts, and robots are awesome. Any and all comments are appreciated!

* * *

**Chapter 1**

The reploid was pretty average, as far as reploids go, except that he'd been built a little small. Whoever had built him had given him soft blonde hair, not too much unlike Zero's own but in a short style like X's. The most notable and alarming feature of his design was an extremely heavy emphasis on combat. Both arms were equipped with buster guns, along with compartments for not one but two beam sabers. The tiny reploid had enough firepower to take out a major city, and there weren't that many major cities left to take out.

Zero, leader of the Maverick Hunters and Hunter extraordinaire, was extremely curious as to who this mysterious reploid was. He had no uniform or other identification of any kind anywhere on his armor. All he had were his hair and his weapons, and unfortunately, these days heavily armed reploids were much more common than the alternative. As such, as was customary, Zero and X had brought the unconscious stranger back to Maverick Hunter HQ to run tests to determine if he was dangerous.

"Well? Is he a Maverick?" Zero asked impatiently.

"Hush, Zero," Dr. Cain snapped. Zero desperately wanted to snap back, but the human doctor was the only person alive, organic or otherwise, who could be trusted with an operation this delicate. He was also Zero's boss. So instead, the hunter snorted and turned away. "Tell me again where you found him," the doctor ordered.

"In an old factory. Heavy Maverick presence," X answered succinctly, as was his usual style. Yes, they had indeed found their new buddy in the wreckage of a reploid factory where the Mavericks had set up a haphazard base. Or rather, X had found the body while Zero was busy flaying Mavericks alive, tearing gear from gear and delighting in the screams and the feel of greasy motor fluids on his fingers.

But that was his little secret.

"He was unconscious, but we're not getting any Maverick readings off him, so we brought him here," X finished. Zero nodded absently in confirmation. Dr. Cain was still flitting around the unconscious reploid, performing weird tests that Zero didn't recognize and didn't want to.

"He's not a Maverick, that's for sure," the doctor muttered. "But I'm afraid his memory circuits are fried. We're not going to be able to get any answers out of him the way he is now." He shook his head. "You're _absolutely sure _that he was unconscious when you found him?"

"Definitely, sir," said X. Zero's eyes wandered over to the strange reploid's blonde hair and black armor. Who _was _he?And whoever he was, he had no business showing up out of nowhere with that much weaponry and yet nothing to indicate whose side he was on.

"The design is odd. Very odd," Dr. Cain mumbled to himself, flipping open a small panel and prodding at some wires, causing the unconscious reploid's fingers to move. "I've never seen a reploid quite like this before." His eyes darted over to Zero for only a split second, but Zero noticed. No one knew who built Zero, either. Well, except for Zero himself. At least, he had a suspicion. A very strong suspicion. One that he wasn't willing to share with anyone, not even X, his supposed best friend.

"You can't tell who built him?" X asked curiously. He looked at Zero, too, almost sympathetically. Dr. Cain narrowed his eyes the way he did when he was deep in thought, stroking his beard slowly, aged lips curved downwards into a slight frown.

"It's not a design I'm familiar with," he said at last. "I'll call some other scientists. In any case, he should be waking up soon, so keep an eye on him. He might still be dangerous." With that parting command, the doctor picked up his walking stick and shuffled back out of the lab, muttering to himself about getting pulled out of bed by ungrateful reploids and needing a vacation.

A comfortable silence settled over the empty laboratory, both Zero and X keeping to their own thoughts, while the newcomer slept peacefully. Strange reploids weren't brought to Maverick Hunter HQ very often, and the appearance of this one was a little suspicious. His evident lack of creator or personal history was even more suspicious. Zero didn't like the situation, not at all.

"Zero. Are you ok?" The question snapped Zero out of his trance, and he looked over at his friend.

"What do you mean?" X met his eyes easily- one of the few in Maverick Headquarters, human _or _reploid, who could do so without flinching. Dr. Cain was another. And Sigma, well, Sigma wasn't afraid of anything then, and he certainly wasn't afraid of anything now that he was batshit nutters insane.

"Ever since Doppler Town. You've been kind of off. Do you need a break?"

"Of course not," Zero snapped. He didn't especially want to talk about Doppler Town, the supposed reploid heaven-on-earth that had been completely wiped out when it had gone Maverick. He looked around, desperate for something to change the subject, to get X's overly concerned eyes to look at something else for a change. His own eyes fell on the body on the lab table. Yes, he would have to do. A quick once-over, and his attention was caught by a mark on the reploid's left shoulder. "What's that?"

"What?" X was blindsided by the subject change, the only one who would be, and confusion took over his expression.

"On his shoulder." A closer look revealed writing, in a shade of silver so dark it was barely readable. "It says X, just like you." That piqued X's curiosity, and he apparently forgot about Zero and came over to look as well, leaning down close to make out the silver lettering.

"That's not an X. That's X-I-I-I. Roman numerals." Zero raised an eyebrow.

"Number 13?" X nodded. "Do you think that's his name?" Numbered names were not, obviously, outside the realm of possibility. "What about one through twelve? Does that mean there's more of him?"

And… what about Zero?

"Who knows?" X shrugged, before his expression turned serious again. Ah. So he'd caught on to Zero's plan. "But Zero, seriously, I think you should-"

"Gotta go, X. See ya later. Have fun with Blondie." Before X could protest, Zero was banging out the door, heavy robotic steps clanking against cool metal floors. He had nowhere else to go, really, so his feet took him towards his room. Well, it could hardly be called a room, of course- all it was was a regeneration pod. But it was _Zero's _regeneration pod, and really, the only place in the entire complex he had to call his own. The 17th Unit could take care of itself for a few hours- for some reason, he was suddenly, desperately fatigued.

Since the founding of the Maverick Hunters, the Maverick situation had gotten _worse, _not better. Maybe it was a simple case of escalation, and when the Mavericks had been given an opponent, they'd started to join together against it. That seemed to be the most likely explanation. And then when Sigma had turned, he'd given them a strong leader. The Mavericks stopped being a smattering of rogue cases and became an army with a mission, if one could call wreaking havoc a mission.

But no- Dr. Doppler had shown them otherwise, hadn't he? He'd proven that Mavericks were created via a virus. So, really, their mission had to be to create more reploids just like them. But why? Were Mavericks irrational, or just sick? Or were they sick at all? The entire situation was just entirely too bizarre for Zero to handle, which is why he'd put his trust in Dr. Cain. In many ways, knowing about this 'virus' was even worse than when the Mavericks had just been considered a reploid separatist group- that meant that an untold number of the Mavericks he'd slaughtered had just been reploids built for innocuous purposes, then taken over and controlled and forced to work for someone else's ends.

But then, Doppler had proven that the virus wasn't exactly curable. So what else was there to do?

And this new reploid. Number 13. Zero couldn't help feeling drawn to him, somehow, even with never having spoken- he felt a sort of kinship with the guy, both with mysterious origins and unusual designs. Both with numbers for names. He couldn't deny the hope slowly growing inside of him, wondering, maybe they came from the same place. Maybe 13 could finally give him some answers. But there was no way of knowing until he woke up and revealed his intentions, and Zero wasn't the type to waste time dwelling on things he couldn't do anything about.

By this point he had reached his pod, but he lingered outside of it. Some part of him urged him to stay awake, reminded him of his responsibilities, what with mysterious reploids showing up in warehouses and Mavericks on the loose. _But, _his other half argued, _I'm completely useless to everyone if I'm exhausted. I need to charge up. They'll call me if they need me. _That was enough for Zero, and he climbed into his pod, closing his eyes as wires attached themselves and the lid of the pod slid slowly closed. In moments, he was completely unconscious.

Though not enough so to not be plagued by dreams.

_You, Zero, are my greatest creation.

* * *

_

"Where is Number 13?"

Axel glanced over at Xigbar, who was staring directly at the Superior with his lone eye. Apparently, even after he'd been dragged back to the World That Never Was for no reason, he was also going to have provide the explanation as to what happened to their tiny friend. If intra-Organization fighting wasn't strictly verboten, Axel would already be pounding his eye-patched coworker into the ground.

"We were attacked in the pathway between worlds," Axel gritted out, putting his thoughts of revenge on hold for later. "Heartless. While we were fighting them, Rox- Number 13 was knocked into a stray portal. He could be on any number of worlds." That was what had happened, in a nutshell. Xigbar had had a good point, really, saying that they should come back to base first, since of course, were Roxas not incapacitated, he'd simply make the jump from whatever place he'd ended up on back to the Castle That Never Was. Since he wasn't here, that meant something bad had happened. What something, Axel didn't care to think about.

"Why didn't you go after him?" the Superior drawled. _Yeah, why __**didn't **__we? _Once again, Axel slid his eyes over to Xigbar. Coming back here before searching for Roxas had been his idea, after all. He could answer this question. Unfortunately, Xigbar remained completely silent, and the Superior's eyes were trained directly on Axel himself.

"We assumed he'd come back here," he finally muttered. Honestly, Xigbar was asking for a world of hurt. He was so chatty normally, but as soon as Axel was all set to incriminate himself, he couldn't be bothered to spit out a single stupid word.

"You have no idea where he is now." The words floated dismally down to where Axel and Xigbar were standing, and Axel found himself struggling against the truth they carried. No, they had absolutely no idea where Roxas was at this moment, and there being a nearly infinite number of worlds, they may never be able to find him. He wouldn't be able to live with himself, sitting around, waiting for Roxas to reappear of his own accord. Something must have _happened._

"I'll go look for him myself," he said, a little too quickly.

"Easy, kiddo," Xigbar muttered. The first words he'd spoken since they'd arrived at the castle. _Now _he decides to hop into the conversation.

"You volunteer?" Xemnas asked, arching an eyebrow. Axel nodded. "And you are prepared to do your duty as a member of this Organization, should it be necessary?"

"Uh. What?" Axel asked stupidly. Xigbar shook his head.

"If Roxas is no longer loyal to us, you'll have to kill him."

Oh. Ok. Wait. What?

Hiding his surprise, such that he was able to feel, Axel narrowed his eyes and looked from Xigbar, to Xemnas, back to Xigbar again. Some part of him had always known how the Organization dealt with traitors, he'd just never had a chance to see it in action. And now, this was it. If Roxas were in any way disloyal, Roxas would be killed. That wasn't going to happen, of course- there was absolutely no reason why the thirteenth member would refuse to come back with him. They'd _seen _him get hit. He certainly hadn't defected of his own free will or anything like that. At least, it didn't seem like he had.

But if he _had_… what would Axel be able to do? Would he be able to kill his best friend? Pretty unlikely. Both in the sense that he wouldn't want to do it, and that there was a strong possibility that he wouldn't be able to beat Roxas in a fight anyway. They were pretty evenly matched. The most likely scenario would end with _both _of them dead, though Axel had a hunch that the rest of the Organization wouldn't mind that so much.

_He _would, though. He didn't want to die. The tiny stirring in his chest that signaled his will to live was welcomed by him- for if he didn't want to die, he had to be alive, right? Even if that life was a cursed half-existence, well, it was better than no existence at all. Right?

Axel did not betray any of these thoughts to his fellow members of the Organization.

"Yeah, sure," was all he said, before he opened a path to the Realm of Darkness.

In seconds, the Organization and the Castle That Never Was were fleeting memories. He had to find the place where Roxas had fallen through. Soon, the trail would be too cold to follow. Axel could feel the darkness tugging at his body, but his Organization coat protected him. No, he would not be fading today. His will to live flared again, as if to comfort him.

The Heartless were still swarmed around the area where the battle had taken place, though they had absolutely no interest in Axel, since he had no Keyblade and no heart. He felt around for any recent openings, pathways that may have carried Roxas off to who the hell knows where. He searched and searched. The search seemed fruitless, and he fried up a few Shadows in irritation.

_Come on, darkness. Talk to me. Something happened to Roxas, and I need to find him._

Just then, Axel felt something. A tiny flicker of life through the black, reaching out to him, pulling him in the right direction. The faintest traces of a recent and volatile portal. Wherever Roxas was, Axel had a suspicion that it was very, very far away. He found the place, surprisingly bare of Heartless.

He opened the gate.

The world he saw through that opening was unlike any he'd seen before. His view from the Realm of Darkness wasn't great, of course, but he saw enough to know it was a brutally unpleasant place. Buildings were crumbling. Trees were dying. Dust was whipping to and fro in gale force winds. The place wasn't going to hell in a handbasket- it had already arrived, and was coming back for seconds. Well, he was a Nobody, and had no preferences one way or the other as to that sort of thing. And every sense he had was telling him that Roxas was there, which meant that he would be going there, too. He took a step forward.

That was when something a bit odd began to happen. When he took that first step, his foot and leg felt heavier than usual. He thought nothing of it, though, and took another step forward. He was one step away from entering the world. He picked up his unusually heavy foot and pushed it through to the new world, and, well, that was when all hell broke loose.

All hell only broke loose on his body, of course. The rest of the world seemed perfectly fine. Axel was used to worlds that involved some sort of change in physical form. This one was different, though. The first thing to strike him was unbelievably painful nausea, as if all of his innards were getting turned inside-out and upside-down, then suddenly a strange hardening, crystallizing, freezing into one solid mass. He doubled over and tried to vomit. Nothing came up. He couldn't even heave- it was as if he no longer had any kind of stomach at all.

That was when he looked at his arms, and screamed like a little robot girl.

For that was the problem of course- somehow, his coat had melted onto his skin and formed some sort of thick metallic coating. And from there, the transformation had seeped inwards, until every bit of organic left in him had been replaced with bolts and wires and switchboards. He was now, officially, beyond a shadow of a doubt, by any definition of the word, a robot. A humanoid robot, but fully mechanical all the same. So… Roxas had been sucked into a world of robots? What, exactly, were the odds of that? No wonder he hadn't tried to contact them. He was probably in a panic. Anyone would be.

Axel himself suddenly felt very light-headed, despite how much heavier his body had just become. He tried to take a single step forward, but that tiny motion set off an explosion inside him- wild beeping from the left side of his head, all kinds of whirrs and hisses and painful-sounding clanks, but mostly the beeping, louder and louder as if to poke him in the face until he finally saw the message it was trying to send him, flashing in green lettering in the corner of his left eye.

_Energen supplies depleted. Shutting down now._

"Wha-" was all Axel managed to get out, before consciousness was stolen away from him and his robot head dropped to his now robot chest.

* * *

Yes, Kingdom Hearts robots. Yessss.

Review, please, so we can all talk about how awesome killer robots are, especially when adapted from Disney material. LOL.


	2. Chapter 2

_Searching for power core…………… Not Found._

_Searching for alternate power source…………… Found._

_Energen Supplies at 30%._

An insistent beeping caught his attention, like someone had left an alarm clock on while he was trying to sleep. The beep wriggled its way inside of him like a particularly obnoxious earworm.

_Core functions…………… Online._

The words appeared in front of him even though his eyes were closed.

_Personality matrix reboot……………… Complete._

_Welcome, Roxas._

Roxas's eyes opened slowly. He didn't feel like he was waking up- in fact, he didn't feel like he had ever gone to sleep. He was still brutally unrested, in any case. And he felt unusually stiff. He glanced down at his harsh, metallic body. Nope, still the same as usual, as far as he could tell. Then why did his joints feel so off? He carefully bent a knee, listening to the clicks, whirrs, and whooshes of air that indicated that everything was functioning more or less properly.

"You're awake?" Roxas tilted his head to see who had spoken to him. He was blue. Very, very blue.

"Yes," he answered simply. He opted not to provide any more information than that, and instead continued testing his limbs. Everything seemed ok.

"Uh… how are you feeling?" The blue guy seemed a little uncomfortable, almost as if he were afraid of him. Roxas looked down at himself- he didn't seem very scary. But maybe he was dangerous? For some reason, everything in his past seemed kind of fuzzy and staticky.

"I feel ok." With minimal effort, he whirred himself into an upright sitting position. Blue's fingers twitched, as if he were bracing himself to pull out a weapon. Maybe sudden movements weren't such a good idea. Roxas's brain helpfully calculated that the blue robot had more firepower than he appeared to.

"Maybe you shouldn't try to move so quickly." Apparently, he was also very intuitive. Roxas stayed still. "Do you have a name? Number 13?"

"Roxas. My name is Roxas." That was what his brain had told him, and he figured his own brain wouldn't lie to him. "What is 'Number 13'?" he asked curiously. Blue frowned.

"Dr. Cain said your memory circuits were damaged." Ah. That would explain the static. "Can you remember anything at all?" Roxas tilted his head to one side.

"Memory circuits damaged," he said slowly. "What is Number 13?" he repeated.

"Oh. It says X-I-I-I on your shoulder. That's my name. X, I mean," X explained, as he pointed to the four letters carefully engraved on Roxas's shoulder. "I thought that 'Number 13' may be your name. Guess I was wrong." A long silence stretched between them, then, with Roxas lost in thought. X never moved his eyes from him even as he zoned out. Number 13. The number spurned some sort of familiarity inside him, though of course, with his circuits messed up, he couldn't be quite sure of what.

Now that he knew his memory actually was damaged, the fuzziness in his brain was beginning to bother him, rather than just being in the background. The haze overwhelmed him.

"If I'm 13, does that mean that there are twelve more of me?" he asked slowly. X laughed a little.

"That's funny, Zero said the same thing." Roxas blinked up at him.

"Did you say… Zero? Are we related?" A strange expression crossed X's face. He supposed he would have to take that as a no, and settle for not knowing anything or anyone. Well, he could deal with that. Something told him he was resourceful. X didn't move his gaze, still with that odd look on his face, as he slowly lifted an arm and tapped the side of his face, shifting some rough brown hair to do so. Roxas could only hear half of the conversation, but he listened as attentively as he was able.

"Dr. Cain? Oh, hello, Double. Could you get Dr. Cain for me? He's asleep? Oh." Even while he was speaking, X's eyes never left Roxas. The unrelenting, unblinking stare was beginning to get a little creepy. "Well, could you wake him up? Yes, it's important. Yes. Tell him the new reploid is awake. Ok, thanks." X dropped his hand. Roxas cocked his head to one side.

"The new reploid. That's me," he deduced. One thing still confused him, though. "What's a reploid?" X gaped at him.

"Wow," he murmured. "You really don't remember anything, do you."

"Obviously," Roxas snapped. The irritation was gone as soon as it had come, faded away into the nonexistent back of his mind. Who knew where it had even come from in the first place? Was he an irritable person?

"Reploids, that's what we are. Robots- mechanical beings who can think and feel," X explained carefully. But something wasn't right. Something inside Roxas rebelled at that description, and denied its application to him.

"I can't feel anything," he said definitively. He had no idea why he was so sure of himself. At the very least, he knew he wasn't feeling anything right now. Whether it was because of his memory loss or because of some deeper defect was still left to discover. Objectively, he knew that he should have been feeling all sorts of things, most prominently worry at having awoken with severe amnesia, watched over by a heavily armed 'reploid' he was sure he'd never met before. But he didn't feel fear. And he wasn't quite comfortable with chalking it up to latent, incredible courage.

X, however, didn't want to believe him.

"Yes you can- you're just dizzy from being unconscious."

"No I can't," Roxas argued. "I can't feel anything at all." He was even more sure of himself now. Name: Roxas. Emotions: Nonexistent. Status: Somewhat less than good. X just sighed, and tugged a bit at his hair, which was almost definitely fake, since he'd just confirmed Roxas's assumption and admitted to being a robot. Oh, sorry. _Reploid._

That line of conversation seemed to be going nowhere, however, as X just sort of waved him off.

"The doctor will be here soon, and we can try to figure out where you're from and what happened to you."

"Where is 'here'? Where am I?" Roxas asked. As far as he could tell, he was in a small laboratory, with X and a bunch of machines he didn't recognize. But you needed electricity for a lab, after all, and he couldn't hear any nature sounds, so this room must be part of a larger structure.

"You're at Maverick Hunter Headquarters," X said. Roxas was quite sure that he'd never heard of such a place in his life. The name sounded violent. He kinda liked it.

"So… you're a Maverick Hunter?" X nodded. "Does that mean you hunt Mavericks?" X nodded again. "What is a Maverick?" X sighed deeply, as if this were a very painful subject for him.

"Bad reploids. Reploids who hurt humans."

"Why would they do that?"

"Maybe you should rest some more." Roxas was beginning to dislike that passive-aggressive _maybe _way of framing suggestions. He had no choice but to 'rest some more.' He had no doubts now that if he tried to leave, X would most definitely subdue him, probably violently and painfully. Yes, Roxas was stuck in this lab until he could be examined by this so-called 'doctor' and assure everyone that he wasn't going to go on a killing spree.

But there was nothing he could do about it now, so he lay back down onto the table, shut his eyes, and waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Nothing was happening, and it annoyed him. He was restless. Who knows how long he'd been lying on that table. He wanted to get up and walk around. Couldn't hurt to ask, right?

"X?"

No answer.

"X?" Roxas opened his eyes. The door was open. How long had it been? Had he fallen asleep? He sat up again, since no one was stopping him from doing so. And, granted, no one was stopping him from just walking away, either. But did he really want to? These people hadn't done anything to hurt him, after all, and it seemed silly to leave the only people around who might be able to help.

While he was thinking about walking away, another reploid tottered into the lab. Drat. Thwarted by inaction.

"Hi. I'm Maverick Hunter Double," the rotund little reploid squeaked cheerfully. "X sent me down to keep you company while he deals with everything upstairs." Roxas cocked his head curiously.

"What's going on upstairs?"

* * *

X had taken off as soon as he'd heard the news, all but forgetting that he had a potentially dangerous reploid on his hands. All it had taken was that little message- _X, I think there's something wrong with Dr. Cain- _and he was off like a shot, bolting through headquarters with a speed unmatched even by the newer models. As he ran he barked orders to anyone he could get a hold of. Call emergency services, clear a path to the medical wing, get Zero.

Where the hell _was _Zero, anyway? He wasn't answering X's calls, and it wasn't like him just to disappear in the middle of the day. Add a missing reploid to X's list of things to be worried about, and he already had plenty to be worried about. His mechanical heart was so filled with concern that it was a wonder it had room for anything else at all.

And so, he arrived at Dr. Cain's personal apartment just as the medics arrived to carry him out on a stretcher.

"Dr. Cain!" he shouted, not breathless from running since he had no lungs. "What happened?"

"He collapsed in his bathroom," one of the medic-bots told him. The others were already loading his unconscious body onto the stretcher with all the care programmed into them by their human builders. "His condition is unstable. We must take him to the hospital immediately."

"Do you think I don't already _know_ that?" X snapped. Like usual, he immediately felt guilty. He sighed, and rested a hand on the medic-bot's shoulder. "Sorry. It's not you. It's just, I'm a little stressed out right now. You know how it is." The small bot, of course, had no idea what he was talking about since it was a transport tool and had next to no higher brain function, so it just blinked at him stupidly and bustled after its peers. X watched Dr. Cain be rushed past, and once he was assured that his boss would make it to the medical wing, he turned and walked away, moving slowly this time to give the blind panic some time to subside and his thoughts some time to process.

Having Dr. Cain out of commission, however temporarily, was bad, very bad, that much was certain. He was the head of the whole Maverick Hunter operation. And X was his second-in-command. Which meant that now X was the head of the whole Maverick Hunter operation.

Which meant that it was now his job to deal with the Repliforce.

X had been opposed to the idea of a standing reploid army from the very moment it had been proposed. They were doing just fine with just Zero's specialty unit, he'd argued, and _escalation _was hardly going to do anything to prevent violence. In fact, now that the other side had both Sigma and the virus, Maverick Hunter HQ had a responsibility not to take any actions that might inspire them to start organizing on a higher level, or worse, recruiting.

As usual, X's opinion had been dismissed as crazy peacenik talk, and the army had gone ahead and been formed, with specially constructed reploids General and Colonel there to lead it. Somehow it had gotten out that X was not especially fond of the idea of the Repliforce, so they had a tendency to be cold to him. Zero, on the other hand, was a famous war hero who they absolutely loved, but when it came to diplomacy he had all the subtlety of a car crash. X needed to find him immediately and brief him on the situation so he'd be prepared to represent the Maverick Hunters. Attacks were low these days, so it's not like he had anything else to do besides patrol the city and take guard duty for Number 13.

At this point, X remembered that he'd left a potentially dangerous mystery-reploid unguarded in an unlocked lab. He muttered a curse and tapped the side of his head to pull up his intercom system. Roxas didn't seem violent, in any case, so all he had to do was find someone who would be willing to make sure he didn't wander around anywhere.

"Double?"

"Yes, sir?"

"I need to ask you a favor." X could practically hear Double beam on the other end of the line. He was a young Hunter, and eager to prove himself- the energy was refreshing in an organization full of tired war victims. "There's a reploid resting in Lab 4A. His circuits are damaged and he doesn't know where or who he is. I just left him to come to Dr. Cain's room. Do you mind keeping him company until I get back?"

"Yes, sir!" The connection died, and X tsk'ed in relief. That was one problem solved. Now he just needed to find Zero before he did something stupid like hear a Maverick advisory and rush out alone into the city to fight one-on-one. He did that much more often than X even admitted to Dr. Cain, which meant it was probably much more often than Zero admitted to X.

The red reploid's love of violence was something that concerned him a great deal- it seemed, especially lately, that once Zero started, he wasn't able to _stop. _Zero was never content just to subdue a Maverick. He had to rip its innards out and beat it into submission with its own limbs. And these days, he was getting worse- he was barely even able to show restraint in front of the Zero Unit. It was a problem, a _major _problem, and X feared that with Dr. Cain out of commission, Zero would just get even more out of control.

And the names- when Roxas had asked about his number, well, the connection had clicked in X's brain, so he was sure it had in Zero's, as well. Zero's mysterious origins had had the world's best scientific minds, reploid and human, completely stumped for more than a decade. If they could run a full scan on Roxas, well, maybe he and Zero's systems were similar? But wouldn't Dr. Cain have mentioned that, though? He said Roxas wasn't similar to _anything _he'd seen, and he'd certainly seen more than enough of Zero. In any case, they'd never figure out where Roxas came from now that Dr. Cain had been hospitalized. X wasn't sure how he'd break the news to the new reploid. And what was that business about not being able to feel anything? His structure was much too complex for his programming to be that of a simple robot. The entire situation just didn't make any _sense._

And on top of that, all of this thinking was making his head hurt. X groaned. Five minutes of de facto leadership of the Hunters, and his brain was already a frazzled mess. Small wonder Dr. Cain had health problems.

X quickly decided that he'd forget about Zero for now- his friend would show up whenever he decided to show up. Right now, priority one was making sure that Dr. Cain was all right. Though he decided it would be best to take the long way to the hospital wing and stop in the main control room, just to make sure his fellow Hunters weren't doing anything stupid.

* * *

_Searching for power core…………… Not Found._

_Searching for alternate power source…………… Found._

_Energen Supplies at 30%._

The pretty blinking lights offered no explanation as to what the hell Energen was, or why everything was so dark.

_Core functions…………… Online._

That was good, at least. That sounded important.

_Personality matrix reboot……………… Complete._

Axel had officially had enough of this shit.

_Welcome, Axel._

He opened his eyes and was already on his feet, a position in which he was certainly not used to waking up. As such, he promptly fell on his butt. Or at least, it used to be his butt- now it was just a weird mechanical joint contraption that connected his torso to his legs. He supposed he'd save loads of time on trips to the bathroom. The Superior would have to praise his efficiency.

Axel had never been a robot before. That was his justification for taking more than five minutes just to stand up. His normal body was rather flexible, and he did not appreciate his new one's limited range of motion. But more importantly, if Roxas had ended up in this world, as he almost certainly had, _he _would be a robot, too. And since he hadn't come back to the World That Never Was, he must have been incapacitated in some way. Axel stayed on his guard. Did his robot body have any weapons?

That was when he noticed the rings dangling from his wrists. They were almost weightless, and not very big- about the same size as his hand with his fingers outstretched. Each wrist had one ring, connected to the inside of his arm, apparently, by some sort of chain. Axel poked at them curiously. Eventually, he found a button on the inside of the inner ring.

The weapon, for it was now obviously a weapon, roared into life, sprouting eight long energy blades from slits that Axel hadn't even noticed. The blades were evenly spaced, just like his chakram back home. And then the pieces fell together, and Axel giggled with boyish delight. He looked around for something to try out his new toys on.

Unfortunately, Axel had appeared in an area that was quite deserted, deep in some sort of abandoned building, and there was nothing nearby to kill. It didn't matter, really- destroying inanimate objects was almost as fun. He focused on a box on the other side of the room, pulled back his arm, and chucked his new robot-energy-über-chakram at it as hard as he could. What happened, however, surprised him.

The chakram stayed connected to him via the chain in his wrist. The chain extended in a long, lazy arc, content to stand by as the spiked wheel smashed through the crate. But when Axel neatly flicked his wrist, the entire chain shot back into his arm, bringing his weapon back to him with much more speed than usual.

Axel liked this. He liked it a lot.

Now that he'd found his pair of chakram, all that was left was to determine if he could still set things on fire with his brain. He decided that that same box, though now more than a little broken, would be as good a test subject as any. He narrowed his eyes, staring straight at it, willing it to erupt into flames.

The robot body, however, had a different way of getting things done. Almost as soon as he'd decided he wanted to set something on fire, his hand bunched up and retracted straight into his arm. As unsettling as that was, the hand was quickly replaced by a cannon. Axel stared at it. Then he smiled.

All it took was one tap of the trigger, and the entire warehouse was going up, just like the Fourth of July. Yes, this would do quite nicely. Now all that was left was to find Roxas. And really, he couldn't have gotten that far, especially if he was injured and a robot. This mission would be pie. Xemnas would shower him with praise, Roxas would be eternally grateful, and Axel would be drifting down easy street for the foreseeable future.

Confident that he could more than defend himself against whatever this world had to offer, Axel strode purposefully out of the fiery destruction, and directly towards what he hoped would be some kind of civilization.

* * *

As was probably made obvious by the name drops, we're sometime before X4, here. Sorry I spent so long describing Axel's robot-body, but this entire fic is based on a fanart I did of Axel as a Maverick, so I have a very clear picture in my head of what his weapons look like and whatnot.

Also, forecast shows a 100% chance of a Roxas-on-Double lab brawl. OH MY GOD ROBOTS ARE AWESOME.

Review, please? :D

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

"_Zero… my masterpiece._"

Blood was everywhere. On his hands, in his hair, on the walls, under his feet, coating the crumpled bodies strewn around him. Did… did _he _do that?

"_Go and destroy him. That's an order."_

Sigma was screaming, Zero was screaming, the shadow was laughing, all blending together into a whirlwind of sound that shot straight to the circuits in between Zero's ears, pooling briefly before rupturing into hideous pain.

Go and destroy him. Destroy _who_?

Zero awoke with a start.

The wild man before him visited his dreams each and every night, but never revealed his face. Was he just a figment of Zero's imagination? A message? A memory? Or possibly something even worse?

With an exhausted groan, he pushed open his pod and stepped out. His internal clock was telling him he'd been asleep for at least an hour, but he didn't feel rested at all. If anything, he was even more agitated than he'd been that morning when dealing with their new reploid guest. No, sleep wasn't what Zero needed at all.

He needed to hunt.

He was, after all, a Hunter, in name, profession, and being. Zero was never more calm than when he was tracking down some errant Maverick, pursuing the trail all the way into some dark corner of the city before tearing the offender limb from limb. Nothing did he love more than a healthy dose of gory, bloody violence.

And that was a problem, wasn't it? He depended on brawling and killing the way more conventional addicts depend on drugs. The urges were getting stronger. He couldn't help but connect them to his increasingly vivid dreams- _Go and destroy him. _Destruction was a part of him, and he would be nothing without it. Where would he be if he couldn't hide his violent tendencies within a violent organization?

Under normal circumstances, all of these thoughts would have kept Zero brooding for hours, but as it was, he was far too agitated for that. He needed to get out and _maim _something. In a few hurried steps, he was over to one of the monitors, scanning for Maverick sightings. One in particular caught his eye, a Maverick threatening humans not too far from the warehouse that X and Zero had been sent to that very morning- at least one of the transporters would likely still be programmed for that sector.

In an instant, Zero was rushing off to the transport wing, without telling a single soul where he'd gone.

* * *

"What's going on upstairs?"

"Oh, nothing for you to be worried about," the rotund little reploid chirped. Roxas was filled with an immediate and aggressive dislike, though he wasn't entirely sure why. Something about Double wasn't entirely on the level.

"Why shouldn't I be worried about it? X was worried enough to leave," Roxas persisted. He was a prisoner after all, and even prisoners like to know if the building where they're being held is about to explode or something. As it was, he had absolutely no memories of anything outside of that dingy lab, so he'd grown sort of attached to it.

"It's nothing," Double repeated, and that was the end of the conversation. At least, as far as Double was concerned. Roxas was just getting started.

"If it's really nothing, why won't you tell me what it is?"

"You'll just blow a circuit worrying."

"So why won't you tell me what it is I'm not supposed to be worrying about so that I don't worry?"

"You're giving me a headache."

"Ditto." Roxas glared daggers at the other reploid, but he didn't seem to be responding to them at all. So he glared harder. That didn't work, either. The more he thought about it, the more he wondered why he was listening to these people in the first place. He certainly didn't know who _they _were any more than he knew who he was. They were not, as they say, the boss of him. X had been packing some serious heat, but this little guy? All Roxas had to do was walk straight past him and out into freedom. If everything was as wrapped in confusion as it seemed to be from down below, the escape would be cake. He sat back up and swung his legs over the side of the table.

"Hey!" the little reploid squeaked. "What are you doing!?"

"I'm leaving," Roxas said haughtily.

"No you're not!" Double toddled over to position himself squarely in the doorway, not that Roxas wouldn't be able to bowl him over, anyway.

"Well, are you going to give me a reason to stay?" he asked.

"You're not leaving this room," Double said firmly. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Oh, please. How's a little pinball like you going to stop me?" He realized, belatedly, after the words had already passed his lips, that that may have been exactly the wrong thing to say. Double's cheerful little face began to darken. Well, who cares if he hurt the guy's feelings- it's not like he could actually _hurt _him, right? Right?

At around this point, Roxas slowly became aware that there was more than a little bit of significance behind the chosen name Double. Unfortunately, he did not make this realization quickly enough to duck the massive fist that swung into the side of his head, knocking him into a shelf full of glass that almost certainly would have hurt a good deal if he hadn't been made of metal. As it was, he could do nothing but gape at the erstwhile 'little pinball' as shards rained down around him.

"I _was_ going to make someone else deal with it," Double boomed. "But now, well, I think I'll just maul you myself." And he could, too. He was enormous- he took up most of the lab. "You don't really need legs, right?" Roxas glanced down at his legs- nice legs, legs he would like to keep- before staring back up at his impending doom. Double was smashing everything in his path, huge wrecking-ball fists crushing metal like it was paper.

But for some reason, Roxas wasn't scared, not in the least. He wasn't sure what that meant in terms of his psychology- did he have a habit of getting attacked by creatures much larger than himself? In any case, logic reigned supreme, and all he could think about was how he needed to find himself some sort of weapon with which to defend himself.

Fortunately, his body seemed happy to oblige. No sooner had the thought passed through his brain than two compartments on his fore-arms snapped open, ejecting twin beam sabers into his ready hands. He instinctively switched them on, watching in awe as two perfectly matched swords emerged, both bending sharply up at the tips, almost like the teeth on a giant key. Even Double stopped his rampage long enough to gape.

"Nice," he laughed, and he lunged headlong at his attacker, taking advantage of Double's shock to land a powerful blow across his chest. The sword didn't cut through him- apparently, their armor was designed to withstand this sort of energy- but it did leave an angry burn mark, and Double stumbled back and hissed in pain. Well, if Roxas had to bludgeon him to death, then so be it.

He jumped back again, and again and again, criss-crossing Double's body with sharp black burns. Soon the larger reploid was cornered, and Roxas pulled back his weapons with a wild grin. Maybe the reploid armor could withstand a slash, but how would it do with a stab?

Unfortunately, Double was ready for him. Just as Roxas stepped forward into the attack, a iron fist connected with the side of his head, sending him sprawling across the wrecked lab. The sight in his left eye fizzled, then went black. While he was down, Double delivered another solid kick to his gut, rolling him over before pinning him down with a giant boot.

"I don't know _who _the fuck you are, or where you came from, or who you're working for," he rasped. "But if you get in Sigma's way, I _will _kill you. Got it?" Roxas understood exactly none of that, and was rapidly losing sight in his other eye as well, but he couldn't stop a goofy smile from crossing his face.

"Yeah, I got it- memorized," he giggled. The pain was making him loopy. The last thing he saw before his vision blacked out entirely was Double transforming back into his usual bubbly self. He was dimly aware that an alarm was sounding- Double must have pressed it. His hearing began to fizzle, too.

"Oh my God, Double! What happened!?" A voice he didn't recognize.

"He went crazy- he destroyed the lab-"

"Nuh-uh," Roxas muttered from the floor, in his own feeble defense.

"Not safe- move him- prison block- mmmmmmmmm-"

All sound was replaced with a low, insistent hum, as Roxas finally succumbed to unconsciousness.

* * *

"Ok, lady. I'll ask one more time." Axel's left flamethrower was pointed rather deliberately at a pathetic excuse for a house. His right flamethrower was pointed at what had recently been a tree. The sparks from the fire were still jumping about in the dirt. "I'm looking for another robot, who looks like me. Black, whatever, but shorter and with blonde hair. All indicators show that he's been here. Have you seen him?"

"N-no!" the woman sobbed. "P-p-please!" Axel might have felt sorry for her, but hey, no heart. He slowly, lovingly pushed down on the trigger, causing a quick burst of fire to reach out towards the house.

Unfortunately, his interrogation was cut short when he was hit full on the side with some sort of blast of energy. The pain took a split second longer to register than it normally would- apparently, the human nervous system wasn't completely duplicable. In any case-

"_Ow._" His torment-ee was still wailing hysterically, but this time, she didn't sound sad or afraid. She sounded like she was weeping with _joy. _He turned his head- beep, click, whirr- to see who, exactly, had assaulted him.

The new robot's weapon, an arm cannon much like Axel's own flamethrowers, was still smoking. He- er, did robots have genders?- was outfitted with slick red armor, deep red, like blood. He was wearing a goofy helmet not unlike the one Axel himself had discarded, and for some reason, whoever had built him had given him long blonde hair. Why would anyone build a robot with long hair? Unless-

"Roxas?" he asked softly.

"Are you all right, ma'am? Go, get to safety." The woman ran away from her house, sobbing her thanks. "Put away your weapons, Maverick," the red robot snarled. Axel had no idea what any of that meant.

"Hey. It's me, Axel. What did they do to you?" he asked cautiously.

"Are you stupid?" Axel blinked in surprise. Yeah, that was definitely something Roxas would say to him, but he didn't see how it was applicable in this situation. The red robot shook his head in frustration. "Fine. I'll give you a refresher. I'm Maverick Hunter Zero."

"Zero?" he asked, confused. "No, you're Thirteen. There is no Zero." From a distance it was difficult to see, but he could've sworn that Roxas's eye twitched.

"That's it," he growled. "You're coming with me."

"Uh, no. _You're _coming with _me. _We're going back home, and we'll forget this whole little incident ever happened, ok?" Roxas's- Zero's?- eyes narrowed, and he touched something on the side of his helmet.

"Dangerous Maverick identified. I'll subdue him and bring him back to the base. Over." Axel gaped.

"Who're you calling dangerous!?" he snapped. "_As if _you'd be able to subdue me." Unfortunately, while he was sputtering comebacks, Zero fired another shot directly into Axel's now-exposed robot belly. Before he could so much as process what was happening, the blast made contact, sending him sprawling into the pile of ash that had formerly been a tree.

"Oh, hells no," he muttered, to no one but himself. But before he had a chance to jump up and retaliate, he found himself getting a taste of robot boot straight to his wounded gut. He'd been a hundred yards away not a minute before- how fast could these things _move_, anyway? Zero was standing over him, drawing some sort of beam saber, not unlike the kind the Superior used back home. Well, too bad for this guy- he was used to fighting against someone with _two _swords. This would be child's play.

With a smirk, he flipped both his chakram into his hands, pushing the switch that caused the energy blades to roar into motion, easily blocking the blow that was meant for his chest. He pushed forward, knocking Zero off his balance for just long enough to allow Axel to leap to his feet. This was a little more high-stakes than he'd have liked for his first bout of using his robot-body in combat, but it would have to do.

His body itself, well, it seemed to have figured out he was fighting for his life all on its own. The words flickering down the left side of his face weren't bothering him anymore, though the pace had increased entirely, mostly telling him about high activity and how Energen flow was being increased, whatever that meant. On top of that, he was apparently equipped with heat sensors that told him where his opponent was at all times. Really, he could have won this fight without _needing _to see.

Zero recovered himself gracefully, and lunged towards him for another offensive. He was fast, comparably fast to Roxas, but this close Axel could see that he was taller, and the face was completely different, and older. He really wasn't Roxas, then. In that case, he was no more than an obstacle.

Besides, Axel had two weapons, and this guy only had one.

A neat flick of the wrist sent one chakram straight into the beam saber, pushing it well away from Axel's body. The green energy flickered and sparked on contact, as if it weren't used to being forced so close together. While he had an opening, Axel sent his other wheel soaring towards Zero's stomach. Unfortunately, Zero dodged, but not before the tiniest of cuts was opened in his armor. A sputtery black liquid completely unlike blood began to leak out, but the red robot didn't even notice. He snarled, a deep, low, guttural snarl, and jumped into the air, apparently intending to crash his saber through Axel's skull.

Axel dodged to one side, but the saber nicked his shoulder. The same black goo that had come out of Zero's stomach oozed out of Axel's own wound, though in more copious amounts, since the cut was that much deeper. He tossed one chakram just as the chain connected to the other snapped it back to his wrist, just in time to switch to melee-style and attempt to slash at Zero's face. Zero ducked and swiped at his legs- Axel jumped out of the way.

_Energen supplies low, _a helpful voice in his brain told him. Wait, what? He barely managed to block as Zero swung around one more time, attacking him full-on with his sword. The robot was _relentless- _no matter how many times Axel landed a hit, no matter how much of his inner fluids dumped out into the dusty earth, Zero refused to slow down. In fact, he only seemed to be getting _more _aggressive the more he bled.

Finally, Zero swung his blade in such a way that Axel needed both chakram to block it. All of his energy, what he had left, anyway, was being poured into defense. That was when Zero made his move. He leaned his weight back, and moved in for another blow. Axel braced himself. Unfortunately, at the last moment, instead of jumping into the air, Zero tossed his saber aside and bulldozed his way straight into Axel's gut.

The head-butt was more than enough to send Axel sprawling. He wheezed desperately as he fell onto his back, all of Zero's weight pinning him down. A dangerous glint flashed in the red creature's eyes as he pulled back a fist, and punched it directly into Axel's chest.

Axel screeched more from surprise than from pain- pain had long since ceased to bother him. Zero reached deeper, apparently looking for something buried in his innards, until he suddenly stopped. He frowned slightly, and his eyes widened in surprise. That was all the time Axel needed.

Taking advantage of his new body's increased range of motion, he swung up of his legs and kicked Zero in the back of his head as hard as he could. Zero howled with rage and stumbled forwards, giving Axel the opportunity to grab the offending hand and yank it out of his chest. He shoved Zero off of him, and summoned both his flamethrowers with a thought. Oh, was this going to hurt.

_Energen supplies depleted. Please find Energen source immediately._

Axel staggered back as a bright light flashed in both his eyes.

"Wha-?"

_Energen supplies depleted. Shutting down now._

Without another thought, Axel crumpled motionless to the ground.

* * *

Oh my God robot fights. I nerdgasmed, like, thirty times while writing this. It was actually done this morning but the FFnet doc uploader was down ALL FREAKING DAY, so if you really wanted some crossover robot fights with your breakfast and were horribly disappointed, well, blame FFnet.

Sorry for the long break between updates- I've been job-hopping and all sorts of crazy stuff. REVIEWS INSPIRE ME TO GO FASTER? 8D

Love, The Authoress


	4. Chapter 4

**Thirteen Times Zero - Chapter 4**

X arrived in Maverick Hunter Central Command, only to discover that Zero was not there. He checked the recovery room as well, where he ran into a smaller reploid who told him that Zero had left his pod quite a while ago. He had, in fact, left the facility entirely. Without telling anyone. In the middle of a crisis. Again.

"_Dammit, _Zero!" X swore, with a few more choice words that made the reploid he was talking to blush. So, Zero was out. That was fine. He could deal with that later.

Dr. Cain had been rushed to the medical wing. X was headed there also. The first step of taking over HQ was finding out what had happened to their old boss, and why he was out of commission. From there, his next job was to find out what was going on with Repliforce. Fortunately for convenience, but unfortunately for his plans, things got shuffled up a bit when Repliforce came to find him first.

"X! Just the man I wanted to see." The voice was familiar, but X couldn't quite place it. He'd heard it before, but probably over an intercom or something. It was disproportionately commanding.

"Hello," he said back. "Well, here I-" He turned to face the reploid who had addressed him, and stopped. He knew who this was.

Colonel. The reploid specially commissioned to be second-in-command of the Repliforce. And, of course, if Colonel was here, his sister Iris couldn't be far behind.

"Hello, Colonel," he said, more stiffly. "How's the Repliforce doing?" Ok, maybe a little too casual for an inquiry about a military operation. But he still didn't agree with the very idea of Repliforce, and probably never would. Militarizing the Hunters' operations could only end badly, he kept saying, though no one ever seemed to listen to him, except maybe Zero, who didn't care about any of the reploids' politics as long as he still got to kill things. Honestly, how did X end up with these people?

"Oh, we're fine. Everything's fine," said Colonel amiably. "We're almost fully assembled. We'll be able to begin operations in a few weeks. Maybe sooner if we get the go-ahead from Dr. Cain." Dr. Cain- the same Dr. Cain who was, for the moment, thoroughly incapacitated. So, news of the doctor's accident hadn't made it to the Repliforce just yet.

"Oh. Right," said X. "Is Iris here, too?" His brain-gears were turning. With Dr. Cain out of commission, he himself was left in charge of the Maverick Hunters. General and Colonel would therefore need _him _to sign off on any escalation of forces.

"Yes, of course. She went to see Zero," Colonel said. X was distracted.

"Oh. He's not here. He's out hunting." How easy would it be for him to just say no? Would the Repliforce know he was deliberately obstructing? It would be terribly easy to just say that he didn't feel up to making that kind of decision without Dr. Cain's knowledge. That would give him a few more days to convince the man to end the mobilization completely.

"Out hunting? Really? Well, soon you all won't have to work as hard- the Repliforce will be able to take care of the Maverick threat," Colonel declared confidently. He was clearly in no rush. X nodded along despite himself. He still hadn't mentioned that Dr. Cain had collapsed, had been rushed to the medical wing, and was no doubt thoroughly unconscious. If Colonel went all the way to Dr. Cain's office and found out he wasn't there, he'd know that X had deliberately decided not to mention it. He had to say something.

"Why don't we walk together? I'm actually on my way to see Dr. Cain right now. He's in the medical wing," he suggested. Hopefully Colonel hadn't noticed that Maverick Hunter HQ was in the middle of a total breakdown crisis. He seemed to have just arrived.

"Really! Did something happen?" he asked, apparently genuinely concerned. Had he really not noticed? That seemed too good to be true.

"I don't know yet," X answered, somewhat truthfully. "I just got the message asking me to come meet him in the hospital wing. It's lucky I ran into you!" His cheer rang entirely false. X had absolutely no poker face to speak of, a serious handicap that would become even more debilitating were he put in charge of running a whole organization of people and reploids. Which technically, he already had been.

Well, shit.

Colonel and X walked the rest of the way to the hospital wing in relative silence, with Colonel intermittently jabbering on about how General had wanted to come but decided to stay at the space station and so on. X didn't agree with the space station, either, but given that Maverick Hunter HQ wasn't quite large enough to handle General's massive hulk of a form, he didn't at all mind the leader having sent Colonel in his place.

They reached the hospital wing far too quickly. The medic-bots were running around in a flurry of crazed and panicky activity. Just from outside, it was abundantly clear that Dr. Cain had not come down here for some kind of check-up and lollipops.

"What is this!? What happened!?" Colonel thundered at the closest reploid he could grab.

"O-oh! Colonel! Uh, Dr. Cain collapsed, sir. Condition critical!" the reploid squeaked before rushing back off to grab some something-or-other. X wasn't terribly familiar with the inner workings of the hospital wing.

"Oh my God!" X said dully, trying his best to work up some of the panic he'd been feeling not ten minutes before, before he'd realized that he'd need to be confronting the Repliforce much earlier than anticipated. He'd hoped that they'd stay at their base, minding their own business, until Dr. Cain made a full recovery. But of course, once you have a standing army, they start agitating to go out and _do _something. Exactly what X had been afraid of.

After a moment, X and Colonel were ushered into the office of Lifesaver, the head of the hospital wing. The gruff reploid gestured for them to sit down, and when neither reploid seemed inclined to do so, he rolled right into the explanations.

"Dr. Cain went into cardiac arrest. We have managed to re-start his heart, but he will be kept under total supervision for at least seventy-two hours. We have not yet determined if surgery will be necessary," he explained, in a flat monotone that sounded rather like the reading of a will. X nodded along to talk of the specifics of hearts and other organs that he didn't have. Colonel was silent. Lifesaver finally finished, and looked at X expectantly.

"Well. I know you're giving him the best care, and I hope for a speedy recovery. Please keep me posted," he said formally. Everything was formal with Lifesaver.

"Yes, sir," he said. The room was somber. Life and mortality were not familiar to Reploids. After all, if one were to malfunction, it could always be rebuilt. But Dr. Cain… his memories could be backed up, records could be kept, but once he was dead, he was gone forever. Had Zero bothered to be there to support him, he would probably call X an idiot and accuse him of being a total sap. _Control the controllables, _he'd say. Yeah.

Unfortunately, Lifesaver seemed ready to make his day even worse.

"With Dr. Cain incapacitated, you are now in charge of Maverick Hunter Headquarters," he said blandly. X knew that, sort of academically, but hearing it out loud brought crashing down to earth that a wild militarist was standing right next to him, eager to get he himself to sign off on a dramatic military escalation.

"Oh. Yes. Yes I am," he said lamely. He could feel Colonel's eyes boring into him. He couldn't deal with this right now. Fortunately, he was saved by a call. Unfortunately, it was from Double, who he'd left in charge of supervising their new prisoner.

"Hi, Double," he said.

"Oh my God! X! You have to help me-" X quickly turned down the volume on his receiver, but he was sure that everyone in the room could hear what Double was saying, anyway. "-went crazy- destroyed the entire lab- collapsed- don't know what's going on- please help-"

"Ok, Double. I'll be right there," he said tiredly. Well, at least manhandling down a rogue Reploid wasn't talking to Colonel. He had that to be thankful for, right?

Right?

* * *

Zero hissed angrily as he dragged the reploid's unconscious and very, very heavy body across the desert towards the Hunter base. He was two wire-snaps away from just blowing him the fuck up, but he knew he was important. He knew that this fellow was important because his armor matched exactly the armor of the mysterious reploid they'd found earlier that day, down to every last nut and bolt. The likeness was hidden a bit by how mangled the new guy had gotten in their fight, but hey, Maverick Hunter Zero apologized to no one.

He wasn't looking too good either, of course. His left eye was fiddling and the gash on his belly was leaking more fluids than he would have liked. His opponent had put up a much stronger fight than he'd expected. Really, he was lucky that the reploid's Energen reserves had run out when they did. He wasn't built to go the distance, that was for sure. But that wasn't the part of his make-up that had Zero concerned.

He was lacking a self-destruct device. _Every _reploid was built with one- it also had the emergency off switch, you know, in case they all went berserk and stuff. But when Zero had reached inside to shut him down, well, nothing. Just extra wires. That whole core piece, with the self-destruct and the emergency shut-down, was also the main site of Energen production. Was that why he'd lost consciousness so quickly? Without that device, his body couldn't produce enough Energen to sustain itself in a fight?

Dr. Cain would know. He'd be able to fix this reploid, just like he fixed the other one, even if Zero had mauled him a bit. He looked better than quite a few of the other Mavericks Zero had fought, though. He smiled fondly at the memories.

Zero was torn out of his bloody walk down memory lane by a click on his receiver. He was more than a little amazed it was still working, actually. A quick pause and glance told him it was a call from X. He decided to ignore it- he could deal with the lecture later. Readjusting his hold on the mysterious reploid's legs, he went back to walking and dragging.

"You're heavier than you look, you know that?" Zero muttered. The groove in the dirt caused by the reploid's body would have created quite an easy trail to follow, on the off chance that anyone was trying to follow them. Zero did creative things with the entrails of people who tried to follow him.

"Seriously, where the hell did you even _come _from?" he continued, venting his hot and tired frustrations on his load. "You and your little friend. And why'd you try to tell me my name was Thirteen?" There was no way the newcomer didn't know who he was. Literally everyone in the world knew who he was. It was probably part of the basic programming package for new reploids.

"It's _Zero. _Maverick Hunter Zero. Got it memorized?" he sneered, pausing to swirl around and kick the unconscious reploid in the side. He didn't respond. His eyes were blank, a flat and unresponsive green. Zero sighed. This particular quarry was more fun awake. Zero crouched down to examine his armor again- the same black, the same style of weapons, the exact same design as the one he'd found before. His eyes moved up to the reploid's slightly mangled shoulder, marked by a finely stylized number VIII. Number Eight.

He paused.

What had been the other reploid's number? He remembered X's even voice- X-I-I-I. Number Thirteen.

The same number that this Eight had addressed him as.

So, they were looking for the reploid that had already been captured. And it looked like there _were _a one through twelve, and possibly higher numbers, as well. But why would this Eight have thought _he _was Thirteen? They looked nothing alike. Did he not know what Thirteen looked like? But how could that even be possible- they had matching armor!

The more Zero looked at Eight's ugly, mangled face, the more angry and frustrated he got. He gave the bot another strong kick for good measure. Well, he could give this Eight what he wanted. Bring him back to Maverick Hunter HQ, shack him up with Thirteen, find out who they were and where they came from.

_And if they know who __**I**__ am and where __**I**__ came from._

With renewed purpose, Zero walked faster. He couldn't have been more than thirty minutes away by this point. The trip out had been much quicker because he teleported, but he couldn't risk teleporting with a reploid this damaged. He needed Eight alive.

Just then, his helmet buzzed a second time, indicating an incoming message. He read through it quickly. Apparently, Iris was at HQ, and she desperately wanted to see him.

On second thought, he wouldn't mind walking a little more slowly.

Zero did not see the large pair of yellow eyes staring at him from a far-off shadow.

* * *

Hi, Megaman and Kingdom Hearts fans! This hasn't been updated in about an eternity, and I apolgize for that. I started it while I had way too much free time on my hands, and now I have like five on-going fics all going on together all at once. ;_; Anyway, this fic should have six chapters total, so we're nearing the end. I hope to finish it soon. Then I'd only have four on-going fics all going on together all at once! :D

Also, thank you to PANTHARYA for beta-ing! If you're in this for the KH, you should go read his stories. They're like fabulously comfortable pairs of pants. Go try 'em on! NOOOOW!

Also, writing that last scene made me want to watch Independence Day like WHOA. Please review! :)


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